


The Best and Worst

by JessicaMDawn



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Angst, Inspired by Fanart, M/M, Photographs, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-01-02
Updated: 2008-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-21 15:06:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/599147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JessicaMDawn/pseuds/JessicaMDawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tragedy has struck. Joey Wheeler is dead. Afterwards, Yugi finds a picture book in Joey's room. It could help him to understand and help others to move on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Best and Worst

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the picture 'Good and Bad Days' made by YUN and naboru that I found on photobucket. I saved it on my own photobucket to assure that it will always be there. So I can give you a link.
> 
> http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/Ssatsuki/Yu%20Gi%20Oh/SetoJoey/36.jpg

It was after everything was over that I found it. His father had asked me to go through his things and take anything I didn't want sold. That was the hardest thing I have ever been asked to do.

My name is Yugi Mutou. I'm twenty-three and still a shrimp, though I have grown a few inches since high school. I was on the phone with a friend, Isis Ishtar in fact, when I received the news. Ever since, well, everything, I've taken to helping Isis in researching and revitalizing ancient Egypt. We were planning a trip to Egypt and my grandfather came in the room. His eyes were sad and I already knew something bad had happened.

My best friend had been shot by a gang. He was dead.

Joey used to be involved in fights all the time, until he met me. He was a thug and I'll admit to that. But all of that was behind him. I thought all of that was behind him. But grandpa came into my room and said that a member of one of the gangs Joey used to fight had shot him. I saw the news report the next morning. The reporter said that Joey exited a restaurant the night before at around eight and was almost immediately shot in the chest by a gang member. He'd been shot three times...

I remember crying a lot. I remember being told by Malik that the Ishtar family would be coming to Japan for the funeral. I remember Tristan, Tea, Duke, Mai, and everyone else looking as bad as I felt the day of the funeral. I remember the funeral, but the memory is a fuzzy one. I think I saw the Kaiba's there, but I may have been imagining it.

I was almost completely in control of myself the day that Joey's father showed up at my house. He looked better than I'd ever seen him, even though he looked like he hadn't slept in a few days. He told me that he was moving in with his ex-wife and their daughter, Joey's sister. But he was selling most of Joey's things before he left. He said the memories were too painful. He said Joey talked about me a lot, so he knew who to go to.

He wanted me to pick out anything of value in Joey's room. Serenity and his parents had already picked out what they wanted to keep to remember him by. I was there for all his friends. I picked out photos of the gang that were spread around his room. I took a shirt I knew he'd borrowed from Tristan and noticed several shirts I'd never seen before hanging in the closet. They were nice. I found Tea's favorite pen that Joey had lost - apparently under his bed - a month before school let out all those years ago.

There were college brochures on Joey's desk. I knew he was going to a prep school, and it surprised me because I never thought Joey would go to college. Now he never will. There were books about animals on his bookshelf, and everything related to his dueling was on top of his dresser. I took all his duel items too.

There was a book I found under the pillow on his bed. It was pure black and hardbound. The words _'The Best and Worst'_ were engraved in gold on the front, but other than that it was bare. I opened the cover and saw a brown page. It was void of anything except a bit of Joey's messy scrawl.

_'The best and worst days of my life. The best and worst memories I'll ever have. The best and worst of anything important to me - Joey Wheeler'_

I flipped to the next page and a series of pictures involving myself and all of our friends greeted me. There were half a dozen pages of us. I was about to start crying again when I flipped the page again and was caught off guard by the contents. I flipped through the entire book. Pictures filled it almost completely! And they were all of Joey and Seto Kaiba.

A picture taken by Joey of Kaiba and himself having tea. A picture of them sleeping cuddled up on a couch taken by a third party. A picture of the two of them at theme parks, museums, cinemas, out together and at Kaiba's mansion together. There was a whole section of candid shots of Kaiba, likely taken by Joey. Another section was of pictures of Joey, taken by someone else. Joey had pictures of them fighting and _kissing_ and _laughing_ together!

I took the book as well.

It's been almost two weeks since I went to Joey's house. I gave what I found of Tea's to Tea, Tristan's to Tristan, and so on and so forth. I plan to have Joey's dueling equipment framed or something, so that I can keep it forever immortalized to show how great he was. I plan to give the deck to...to Kaiba.

I'm still in shock about what I discovered within that little book. I'm on my way to the Kaiba mansion right now actually. I'm going to give Kaiba the book and the deck and my apologies and thank him. I surprised myself though. It's Valentine's Day.

 _Oh god!_ I can't stop crying and people on the bus are staring at me and I'm holding the box in my lap like a lifeline and _Joey, why did you go!?_

The bus stops and I manage to get control of my emotions long enough to take the box for Kaiba and get off the bus. Another five minutes and I think I look presentable and I'm standing in front of Kaiba's front door. I ring the doorbell and it takes a few minutes but the door opens. To my surprise it's Kaiba himself.

"Kaiba?" I ask in shock. He has bags under his eyes and if I look closely enough I can see tear stains on his cheeks. He's not wearing his jacket and his underclothes look like they're strangling him. He notices my stare and composes himself like there's nothing wrong. He wipes his face and straightens out the invisible wrinkles in his clothing before speaking.

"Ahem," he clears his throat. "Do you need something Mutou?" he asks, eyeing me suspiciously. I stare sadly at him for a few moments before remembering the box in my arms.

"Um...I found these at Joey's place and...I thought you might want them," I explain softly, lowering my eyes from his piercing gaze as I hold the box out to him. Kaiba takes it and opens the box in curiosity, though it doesn't show on his face.

"Why would I want this, Mutou?" he asks, sounding cold. He's confused.

"I...looked in the book," I explain. Did he not know?

Kaiba takes the book out and hands the box to me as he opens it. The book is about as big as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but heavier due to all the images held inside. I watch as Kaiba's eyes widen and widen, then shrink and shimmer.

"I see...," he breathes out. "Thank you, then."

Kaiba goes to leave but I can't let him! "Kaiba!" I cry out and he stops. He's got the box in his hands again and I don't remember handing it back to him. "I don't know how long it went on...I don't understand a lot of it...But thank you! I'm sure he was happy. I _know_ he was happy with you!"

Kaiba looks like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders. I can see something so fragile about him now, like he could break at any time. I bow low to him and all I see is the floor.

"I'm sorry...I'm just...I'm sorry," I say softly. "I'm sorry about everything."

A hand ruffles my hair and I look up to see a slight smile on Kaiba's face. He's holding the box under his left arm with his left hand. His right is still in my hair. "Thank you," he says quietly and my eyes widen at the softness in his voice.

Kaiba removes his hand and disappears beyond the door. I don't move and soon I hear a sound beyond the door. My eyes widen yet again when I realize that Kaiba, Seto Kaiba, is crying. Whatever I may have been thinking, I don't know what it was. I just know that I hope the gang member who shot Joey gets put in jail for a long, long time.

"Happy Valentine's Day, pup," I hear Kaiba say.

Before I start crying myself, I turn around and walk away from the door. I stare at the sky as I wait for the next bus at the bus stop. The sky is clear and the day is perfect. But it's raining. My eyes are flooding again. It will be a long time before I can think about him without crying, but I don't think Kaiba will ever recover.

This is one of those Worst Memories for Joey's book.

_Fin_


End file.
